1987. A room in New Delhi is thick with the smell of old files & cold tea. The United States has just delivered a stinging slap to the face of the Indian Republic. They have officially refused to sell India the 'Cray X-MP' Supercomputer, the most powerful machine on Earth, claiming that India would use it for nuclear weapons.
The American officials mockingly suggest that India does not even have the electricity to keep such a machine running. In the middle of this national humiliation, a young, soft-spoken engineer named Vijay Bhatkar is asked by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi: "Can we build our own?" Bhatkar does not hesitate. He looks at the No of the West & says: "We will not just build it; we will build it faster than you can ship it."
The Americans did not just stop at refusing the sale; they actively lobbied other nations to ensure India remained digitally blind. They believed that w/o their Logic Gates, India would remain a 3rd world backwater.
Bhatkar realized he could not replicate the Single-Processor behemoth of the Cray. Instead, he turned to Parallel Processing. He decided to stitch together 1000s of low-cost, off-the-shelf microprocessors. It was like building a giant's brain out of the neurons of ants.
In 1991, while the West was still celebrating its monopoly, Bhatkar unveiled the PARAM 8000. It was not just a computer; it was a Gigaflop monster.
To prove the PARAM was real, Bhatkar ran a standard global benchmark test. The results were sent to an international conference in Zurich. The PARAM 8000 was ranked as the 2nd most powerful supercomputer in the world, behind only the American machines. But there was a twist: the PARAM cost a fraction of the Cray, performed better in tropical heat, & was built in just 3 years.
When the PARAM 8000 was 1st turned on, the team did not have a high-tech cooling system like the Americans. They used industrial-grade desert coolers & adjusted the airflow manually. It was the ultimate Jugaad that defeated the most sophisticated tech embargo in history.
A major US newspaper ran a story with the headline: "Denied supercomputer, Angry India does it!" The ghost of the Native Engineer had officially entered the silicon temple. Vijay Bhatkar’s history is the story of how India became the IT Capital of the world.
Bhatkar founded the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). He did not just build a machine; he built an ecosystem. Every software engineer in India today stands on the shoulders of the man who proved we did not need the West's permission to compute. Bhatkar was the 1 who realized that if computers only spoke English, 90% of India would be left behind. He led the development of GIST (Graphics & Intelligence Based Script Technology), allowing computers to work in Indian languages. He gave the Machine a local tongue.
Today, Bhatkar is a Padma Bhushan awardee, but he lives a life of deep spirituality & simplicity. He vanished from the corporate headlines to become a philosopher of the digital age.
The West thought they could freeze India’s future by withholding a single machine. They forgot that the Indian mind does not need a 'Cray' to think; it only needs a 'No' to ignite. Forget building a supercomputer; Bhatkar built a mirror, & for the 1st time, the West had to look into it & see that the primitive colony had become the master of the code.
@fopminui Authenticity check with Gemini :
This version of the story is mostly false, though it is a heavily dramatized and "cinematic" retelling of a real event that happened several years earlier. This is classic example of "glurge"—a real story rewritten with heart-tugging details.
@airindia My mother was with me needing a wheelchair on A.I. 1740 Pune on 12th Dec. The way your staff took care of her, dropped and picked from lounge and the special lift arrangement at aircraft gate was amazing! Thank you!!
@HeathrowAirport
A queue of 200 odd passengers at Terminal 3 with just one officer - for Other Passports.
It doesn’t do justice to the reputation of Heathrow or UK Tourism Sirs.
Flew @airindia from New Delhi to Pune. The flight was on time. The gate change communication and the baggage communication was perfect. Icing was that I got an upgrade to business class.. #AIFans#FlyAI
@devinamehra Sadly, AI is not like older ones @devinamehra . None of the others could “create”. They could automate, enable but not create. They weren’t autonomous - AI is not only autonomous can also learn and improve.
Autonomous and self learning - that’s why it will eat jobs unlike past.
@airindia I’m amazed by your unawareness of basic traveler experience spoiler - a seat pocket to keep our bottles, books, etc. why do you force us to do this?? @TataCompanies@campbellwilson@DGCAIndia please make seat pockets mandatory in plane seats.
It’s on top of my flight AI 874 is 1:45 hrs late.
I’m sure an insider got’em removed for op efficiency reasons - lesser aircraft t-o time! But sacrificing customer comfort for crew comfort??
Being a Tata alumnus, I fly AI - but this antipathy for user comfort is disappointing.
@sanban@BAFBLR@pankajontech@sanban it’s a good idea to have Directors and Officers insurance for cooperative housing societies. The only catch is that our laws are not remediative in nature but rather punitive in nature. An insurance can’t prevent police actions..
Most irritating experience on @airindia intl flights- lack of seat pocket!!! Where to go power bank, bottle, iPad!!
First Mumbai Muscat, &now on Mumbai Dubai AI919.
Wake up to basics of customer experience!!
@DGCAIndia pl prescribe basic needs to be kept!
Well, that’s on top of a delay- 90 min and counting… God Bless the recovery!
We wish you well @airindia but absolutely necessary to keep operational excellence and customer experience laser sharp please.
Uber CEO spent months as ‘undercover’ driver, delivery agent: ‘Drivers are taken for granted’ - his insight.
Customer centricity has to be at the top in the experience economy...
https://t.co/qrprbrpX7v